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Antrissan Empire
The Antrissan Empire is an empire based in The Wastes and composed almost entirely of Shadowfolk. The empire's home is in the Wastes, south of the Shadowed Sea. The empire has expanded into the Phlegethon desert and the eastern parts of the Windswept Plains, where it has laid claim to Seraphim and Cherubra and taken control of a number of coelum mines. The empire makes heavy use of slave labor for its operations, and most of its slaves are Humans captured attempting to escape its dominion. The official religion of Antrissa is the Cult of the Watchers. Culture Antrissa is relatively homogenous, and nearly all of its population is Shadowfolk. This contributes to an atmosphere of extreme xenophobia: Humans, the most numerous minority in Antrissa, face outright discrimination and disdain, and most are even enslaved. Religion The official state religion of Antrissa is the Cult of the Watchers. Though adherence to the religion is not required of Shadowfolk, Human inadherence is punishable by exile and apostasy is punishable by death. The religion holds its worship ceremonies in underground temples, and commonly practices ritual sacrifice. Laws As discussed elsewhere, Antrissan laws are far harsher on Humans than on Shadowfolk. Humans can also face severe punishments, such as exile or death, for relatively trivial crimes. A notable point about Antrissan law is that most varieties of scams and cons are perfectly legal, and widely practiced. Foreigners in Antrissa would be well advised to be extremely suspicious of the Shadowfolk and even most Humans. Another notable point is that Antrissan law heavily encourages vigilantism and vengeance. Even most serious crimes such as murder receive little official investigation, which prompts most Antrissans to take the law into their own hands. The exception to this pattern is when a non-Shadowfolk is suspected to have perpetrated a crime against a Shadowfolk, in which case the non-Shadowfolk party tends to experience the full force of Antrissa's enforcers. Social norms Antrissans usually wear dark wool robes, commonly with accents of blue or purple. Almost without exception, Antrissans wear helmets that completely conceal their heads, especially their faces, to prevent others from memorizing their true face and learning to mimic it by shapeshifting. Thus, anyone not wearing such a helmet is assumed to be impersonating someone else. In public, Antrissans are usually incredibly quiet and subdued, and even the noisiest of Antrissan taverns is dead silent compared to those in the Avylonian Kingdoms. Cuisine Little can be farmed or hunted in the Wastes or the Phlegethon desert that Antrissa can call home, so it generally turns to its neighboring regions for food. It imports a good deal of its food, and harvests the rest from the parts of the Windswept Plains it controls and also fishes in the Shadowed Sea. Common dishes include many varieties of saltwater fish as well as cooked scorpion. Certain less-than-savory taverns are known to serve Human meat for the right price. For drinks, gelbier (a sort of beer made with tree sap), cider, spiced beer, and raspberry wine are commonly served. Occasional hunting parties of experienced Antrissan warriors and battlemages will venture into the Plane of Shadow to hunt and fish there, and the food such hunting parties return with is widely considered a delicacy. Water from the Plane of Shadow is also sought after, both for drinking and for use in potions. Common such delicacies include felhound, regal serpent, and angler and monkfish meat. The rarest of these delicacies are the eggs and meat of the obsidian dragon, which is astoundingly expensive and is generally only ever sampled by Antrissa's royalty. Category:Antrissa Category:Governments Category:Phlegethon Desert Category:Plane of Shadow Category:The Wastes Category:Windswept Plains